National News - Page 38

GOP congressman calls on Florida to ‘correct’ Black history standards on slavery

By ZoĂ« Richards Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., on Wednesday called on the state Education Department to “correct” its new standards for teaching Black history after it suggested that slaves benefited from skills used in forced labor. “The new African-American standards in FL are good, robust, & accurate,” Donalds tweeted. “That being said, the attempt to feature the personal benefits of slavery is wrong & needs to be adjusted. That obviously wasn’t the goal & I have faith that FLDOE will correct this.” The comments echoed remarks Donalds made in an interview with WINK-TV of Fort Myers, when he suggested the standards need “some adjustments.”

Kamala Harris accuses Florida officials of trying to ‘replace history with lies’ through new curriculum

By ZoĂ« Richards Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday rebuked the Florida Board of Education’s new standards for how Black history will be taught in schools, calling it an effort by extremist leaders to spread propaganda. Speaking in Jacksonville, Harris said the recently approved curriculum, which suggests some slaves reaped benefits from the skills they acquired during forced labor, was based on a policy intent on misleading children. “They want to replace history with lies,” Harris said. “These extremist, so-called leaders should model what we know to be the correct and right approach if we really are invested in the well being of our children.

Justice Department investigating Memphis policing methods, months after Tyre Nichols’ death

By Adrian Sainz The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday it is investigating how Memphis Police Department officers use force and conduct arrests, nearly seven months after the violent beating of Tyre Nichols by five officers after a traffic stop strengthened nationwide calls for police reform. The in-depth federal probe adds more scrutiny to a city dealing with the aftermath of Nichols’ killing and answers long-standing calls for such an investigation from critics of the way police treat minorities. Federal authorities will look collectively at the Memphis Police Department’s “pattern or practice” of force and stops, searches and arrests, and whether it

Why Reparations Owed to Black People Could be Too Massive for Cash payouts

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By Wayne Washington I’ll take my reparation payment in the form of Boone Hall Plantation, please. Boone Hall is a sprawling plantation located in Charleston County, South Carolina. Today, it offers tours so the curious can get a glimpse of what it was like during antebellum days when Black people were enslaved and white people got richer than Midas from their free labor. The place is so scenic Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively got married there. Not sure how they didn’t know about the beatings and rapes that likely took place there during slavery, but they’ve since said they’re very, very

Roy Wood Jr.’s Surprisingly Personal and Scathing White House Correspondents’ Dinner Roast

By Jennifer M. Wood Roy Wood Jr. wanted to accomplish two things during his White House Correspondents’ Dinner speech Saturday night: laughs and reparations, as he told NPR earlier this week. He got half his wish. On Saturday evening, Wood took some mainly innocuous shots at Joe Biden, largely targeting his age (“When the retirement age went up two years to 64 [in France] they rioted because they didn’t want to work till 64. Meanwhile in America, we have an 80-year-old man begging us for four more years of work.”) But he really rode roughshod over several newsmakers who weren’t in the room at the Washington Hilton Hotel to

Biden will designate a national monument honoring Emmett Till and his mother

By Juliana Kim President Biden will designate a national monument at three sites in honor of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley — both of whom served as catalysts for the civil rights movement. Biden is expected to sign a proclamation on Tuesday, which will be the 82nd anniversary of Till’s birth. The new monument will be established across three locations in Illinois and Mississippi in an effort to protect places that tell Till’s story, as well as reflect the activism of his mother, who was instrumental in keeping the story of Till’s murder alive. In August 1955, two white men

Kamala Harris to travel to Florida and speak out against state’s new Black history standards

By ZoĂ« Richards Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to travel to Florida on Friday to deliver critical remarks in response to the state Board of Education’s approval of new standards for how Black history will be taught in schools. The trip to Jacksonville will highlight efforts to “protect fundamental freedoms, specifically, the freedom to learn and teach America’s full and true history,” a White House official said in an announcement first shared with NBC News. Harris, whose mother was a civil rights activist, will also meet with parents, educators, civil rights leaders and elected officials, the official said. Her last trip to Florida was

Inaugural Multidisciplinary Dialogue on Africa-U.S. City Relations

By Hluma Luvo Ralane the African Centre for the Study of the United States (ACSUS), University of the Witwatersrand, held the Inaugural Multidisciplinary Dialogue on Africa-U.S. City Relations at the ANEW Hotel Parktonian, Johannesburg.  The dialogue sought to serve as a catalyst for addressing social, economic, political and cultural challenges confronting cities. The stakeholders tackling these issues were diverse, ranging from academics and scholars, to city and corporate officials.  Dr Bob Wekesa, the Deputy Director of ACSUS, presided over the three day conference. In the opening ceremony, Cllr Thapelo Amad, the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, commended the

Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action is no reason to give up

By E.R. Shipp Chief Justice John Roberts has convinced himself the United States has reached the Promised Land, while those of us focused on social justice are still climbing the rough side of the mountain. Viewing the world from his differently focused glasses, he has declared over a 10-year period that there is no longer a need for federal voting rights protections (Shelby County v. Holder, 2013) and there is no longer a place for affirmative action in higher education (Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College and Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. University of North Carolina et

Morgan State University President David K. Wilson Statement on U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling Ending Affirmative Action in Higher Education Admissions

By President David K. Wilson The ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court declares that race can no longer be a factor in higher education admissions, which for many institutions will erode decades of progress in cultivating diversity on their campuses. Affirmative action has long been a scale-balancing tool in addressing historical and systemic inequalities, allowing educational institutions to consider an applicant’s race or ethnicity as one of several factors in the admissions process. Its purpose has been to promote equal access to higher education for underrepresented BIPOC groups, including African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans, who have historically faced significant

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